Sandwich High football team drops playoff heartbreaker to Oakmont

SANDWICH – With the score tied at 15-15, Oakmont lineman Jayden Pridgen got a hand on a Sandwich punt near the 48-yard line and his younger brother, Seven, alertly picked up the ball, and returned it 40 yards for the go-ahead score at 7:09 of the fourth quarter.

Five minutes later, Sam Curtis’ 32-yard field goal provided the margin of victory, before the Sandwich High football team countered with a late score as the Spartans posted a 25-22 victory at Captain Gerald F. Loconto Field in the Division 6 Round of 16 game on Friday night.

“Ever since Monday I had been telling my teammates that I was gonna get a blocked punt,” the older Pridgen said. “I was just feeling it, and I just went for it and it was there; it was a great opportunity.”

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It turned out to be a great opportunity for his younger brother, Seven, who was right there to make the most of his moment.

“I got a piece of a punt earlier, so I said, ‘Coach, the punt is slow. We can get one,’” Seven said. “The ball was bouncing and Jayden just said, ‘Let’s go.’ He was blocking for me and it was great getting it in the end zone.”

While the game was played between two high-powered offenses, it was special teams that ultimately determined the outcome.

“Special teams are everything, and especially this late in the season the margin of error gets smaller and smaller,” said Sandwich coach Matthew MacLean. “Those special teams matter even more and have a bigger impact when you get to games like these in the playoffs.”

Spartan quarterback and place kicker Sam Curtis made the most of his special-team opportunity when he booted the deciding 32-yard field goal after missing one earlier in the game.

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“I knew I had to make it. I make those in practice all the time,” he said. “I knew I was going to make it, I had confidence.”

Oakmont coach David Kaizer never doubted his talented junior.

“Sam’s cool and collected out there, as a kicker and as quarterback,” he said. “We talk during the week, ‘what do you like, what do we need to do.’ When you have a kid you trust like that, it makes it a lot easier.”

Sandwich was led by its standout senior running back Brady Carroll, who rushed for over 240 yards and picked up a big gainer on a fourth-quarter hook-and-ladder play.

The Blue Knights got on the board on their first possession as Carroll ground up most of the yardage into Spartan territory. From there, sophomore quarterback Adam Ferreira had a 15-yard gainer to Connor Stack to the 39.

Two plays later, Ferreira connected with Ben Foley from 37 yards out and Adrien Alcaquiez's kick made it 7-0 at 7:31.

Oakmont immediately employed its hurry-up offense, behind the running of Harrison Fagan and Zachary Wojcukiewicz, to move into Blue Knight territory. Fagan crashed over from the one for the score, and when Curtis fielded a high snap on the point after, he rolled right and threw to Isaiah Smith for the conversion and an 8-7 lead at 4:15.

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“We knew they ran the hurry-up offense but we felt we had a pretty good idea of what they'd do,” said MacLean.

Oakmont took a 15-7 lead before halftime as Zachary Wojcukiewicz scored on a 12-yard run, followed by Curtis’ kick with 3:07 left.

After the Blue Knights stopped Oakmont on its first series of the third quarter, MacLean gave the ball over to his workhorse Carroll. The senior back carried 10 times for 74 yards, slashing through the holes opened by the offensive line.

“He’s a warrior, he’s a football player through and through,” said MacLean of Carroll. “He’s a special kid, but he can’t do what he does without the kids up front.”

The coach gave special kudos to captains Chris McElroy and Cam O’Malley, as well as Nolan Cochrane, Ryan Gill and Evan Watts.

A 12-yard pass from Ferreira to Stack had the ball to midfield before Carroll burst through for 31 yards. Four plays later, Carroll scored from the two, and then added the conversion to tie the score at 15 with 5:02 left.

Curtis missed his chance at a go-ahead 38-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter. Then in the fourth quarter, the Spartan's drive stalled after a personal foul call forced them to punt it back to Sandwich.

After Carroll made a couple of small gains, he was stuffed on a third-and-2 by Troy Vento and Rob Lowe, forcing Sandwich to have to punt.

On the snap, Jayden Pridgen burst forth through the line for the all-important block.

“JP was the one who was called for (the penalty), but he more than made up for it,” said Kaizer. “He came back, he stayed in the game and stayed level-headed. He made the punt block that really won the game for us.”

Oakmont will now meet top-seeded Stoneham, a 40-8 winner over Assabet Valley, in next week’s quarterfinals.

Looking to get the equalizer, Ferreira went to the air and the Spartans were called for a pass interference call, which looked to put Sandwich in business. That was, until a Blue Knight fumble at the 37 was recovered by Wojcukiewicz.

A 32-yard field goal from Curtis made it 25-15 with 2:37 left.

On the ensuing Sandwich possession, the Blue Knights pulled one out of their bag of tricks when Ferreira connected with Ben Polay, who then made a perfect pitch to Carroll on a hook-and-ladder play for 46 yards.

“We’ve been saving that for a rainy day, and it worked for us,” said MacLean. “I give a lot of credit to coach (Kevin) Cobban, our offensive coordinator, and our sophomore quarterback Adam Ferreira for the last two games, toward the end of the game he’s been able to get the ball moving down the field.”

With 58 seconds left, Ferreira threw a 20-yard TD pass to Stack, and an Alcaquiez kick made it 25-22.

The onside kick attempt was recovered by Oakmont, which ran out the clock for the win.

“We’ve been battling all year. We play great one game, then not so great in another,” said Kaizer. “To put it together in a playoff game was just awesome.”

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Sandwich High football loses to Oakmont in MIAA playoffs